Gabriella's Italian
Grill & Pizzeria
OVER 50 YEARS OF TRADITION
Our family has been serving traditional Italian cuisine in a relaxed family environment since 1953. Originally from the Castiglione region of Italy, our family first migrated to Oklahoma in 1895 because of the booming coal business.
My great-grandfather, Jim Giacomo provided well for his family until his untimely death, leaving his wife, my granny Rose, as the sole provider for their seven children. Granny cooked pasta, and fried chicken, and even brewed a homemade beer called "Choc" which she sold to people who came to eat in her home. Despite the hard times of the Depression, Granny did well for her family, ensuring they were always clothed and fed. Little did she know that what she did out of necessity would one day become the foundation of a successful business that would become a family tradition.
This tradition was continued when her youngest son, Dominic, and his sister Minnie opened the Isle of Capri Italian restaurant in Krebs, Oklahoma, on Mother's Day in 1953. The restaurant's name was inspired by Dom's time in the Navy where he was stationed in Italy off the island of the same name.
In 2003, I opened the first Gabriella's Italian Grill and Pizzeria in South Padre Island along with my family and my best friend Alyce. It was a bit of a struggle at first since we had leaped into an entirely new demographic 800 miles from anyone who knew what we were about. But our dedication and passion for food made us one of the premiere destination restaurants in South Texas. We were the first restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley to serve traditional wood-fired pizza and developed a reputation as one of the premiere restaurants south of San Antonio. In 2009 we said goodbye to Alyce when she succumbed to pancreatic cancer, so we felt it was time for a change and time to bring what we'd learned back home to Oklahoma.
Originally built in 1938 as the Kentucky Club, the building has a long and colorful history. Since it was located far away in the country it was the perfect place for a gambling den, dance hall, and speakeasy. The original building burned in 1949 and reopened as the Ramada Club. Due to our restaurant's colorful past, we have a reputation for being a haunted site in America and frequently host paranormal investigator groups looking to record strange phenomena. But don't worry folks. We save the ghost hunting for after hours!
Gabriella's is a perfect venue for my family to continue to learn and grow while joining the ranks of Oklahoma City's wonderful restaurant scene. For nearly 60 years my family has been in the restaurant business and we've been delighting appetites with homemade food for even longer. We take great pride in our recipes, which are prepared fresh every day. From our table to yours, we wish to give you an unforgettable dining experience.